I am 3 batches into all grain. First two batches nailed all my number perfectly including boil off.
This third attempt though I had a higher mash eff. then expected and I boiled off an additional .5 gallon in an hour.
What gives? I kept the burner and boil to a similar roll as the first two batches. The only thing I can think about is that it was much colder on the third batch outside. I noticed a lot more steam as result.
Does water evaporate quicker when boiling in a cold climate? This doesn't make sense to me, but man it's been bugging me so I thought I would post.
I always have a higher boil off rate in the dryer winters. I usually leave an extra half gallon, or so, when I get to my 60 minute volume. I did a weekend of testing with boiling plain water in the winter to figure out relative boil off rates to approximate the amount of extra water is boiled off versus the spring/fall humidities.
IME the hardest things to figure out were
A) temperatures
B) volumes
it just takes trial and error on YOUR system, no one can give you a straight answer, only guidance and generalizations, because they have never used your system. Just get out there and brew, take good notes on temps and volumes. You'll figure it out.
Boil Off Issue
Linear Mode
